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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

There’s NOTHING Terrific About CW’s Mr. Terrific

In DC Comics Mr. Terrific is the world’s third smartest man,
an Olympic level athlete, a skilled inventor, and a complete badass.

Unfortunately something got lost in the translation at
Berlanti Productions. In their adaptation, Mr. Terrific is a bumbling stumbling
idiot too scared to carry his own weight on the Outsiders…I mean Team Arrow.

Something got lost in the translation of Michael Holt from
comic to screen. Because the character being presented as Mr. Terrific is
anything but. They may call him Mr. Terrific, but he’s more like the Cowardly
Lion. A guy with a tough looking outfit, but absolutely no nerve.

When it comes to Mr. Terrific I don’t see any Fair Play in
how he’s being presented onscreen by Berlanti Productions. On Arrow, Green
Arrow gets to be shown as strong and confident. Wild Dog gets to be shown as
tough and scrappy. Ragman is shown as mysterious and creepy. Even Vigilante is
presented as a battle tactician and a strategist.

Mr. Terrific was supposed to be all that and more. A master
tactician, a skilled fighter, and a brilliant inventor. The equivalent of
Marvel’s Black Panther. But on Arrow he’s been turned into a minstrel in a
mask. With the stupid way he acts that T on his face might as well be
Blackface.

Fuck you Berlanti. Fuck You.

Almost every character on Arrow has been designed to be
somewhat to the source material. Unfortunately, Mr. Terrific has not been
allowed to be himself at all onscreen. Either he’s played for laughs or he’s
made to look like a complete WIMP onscreen. The only Black hero on the show and
he’s absolutely NOTHING like his comic book counterpart.

Michael Holt’s Mr. Terrific connected with comic fans
because he was an intelligent confident Black man who showed could take on the
greatest challenges in the DC Universe. He earned the respect of readers
because he showed he could capably take the mantle from Terry Sloan. In the
years before the 2011 reboot he made his own distinct mark in the DC Universe
as a respected member of the Justice Society. I don’t see him being given any
of the respect he deserves on Arrow by Berlanti Productions.

Sadly, from the way things look to me, Berlanti Productions
is playing Mr. Terrific dumb to make Green Arrow look more competent. And
that’s just racist. I’d like to think there’d be room for Mr. Terrific to be a
badass right at the side of Green Arrow on a TV show just like they were on
Justice League Unlimited. There’s no reason to turn Mr. Terrific into an idiot
to make Green Arrow look better.

I’d like to think Michael Holt deserves better than the SAD
adaptation he’s received on Arrow. When I look at the character presented on
the CW’s Arrow and compare him to how he’s depicted in the comics, the comic book
version blows the doors off his television counterpart.

In the right hands Mr. Terrific could be presented as badass
as Black Panther was in Captain America: Civil War. But because there’s no Fair
Play at Berlanti Productions and Warner Brothers, one of DC’s best Black
superheroes looks anything but Terrific onscreen.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Shawn James and I'm a man with a lot on my mind. This blog is a place where I'll write essays, promote my self-published, books and display my art.
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